The Evil One


The Evil One is a solo album by former 13th Floor Elevators singer Roky Erickson, released in 1981. The songs were recorded in 1979 with producer Stu Cook, former bass player of Creedence Clearwater Revival. Some material from those sessions was also released on the 1980 CBS UK album Roky Erickson and the Aliens, later reissued as I Think of Demons. Cook played bass on two tracks, "Sputnik" and "Bloody Hammer."

Reception

The album is considered by many critics to be an eccentric cult classic. Pitchfork reviewer Jason Heller called the album "brilliant.... In a spasms of feral, lip-twisted fury, he snarls about demons, zombies, vampires, ghosts, and demons again with all the intensity of a rabies victim." Heller noted that Erickson's interest in horror and sci-fi imagery drew comparisons with the progressive hard rock of Blue Öyster Cult and Alice Cooper as well as punk rock. Austin Chronicle writer Scott Schinder called Erickson's 1980s albums, released after his half-decade involuntary stay in a Texas psychiatric hospital, "the clearest glimpse into his raging musical soul." He described The Evil One as "the mother lode. It's the disc on which Erickson comes across most clear-eyed, and the source of many of his best-loved solo songs." Billboard writer Morgan Enos said that The Evil One "brims over with propulsive bangers about harrowing visions.... Every moment slams with a galvanic precision." Mark Demin of AllMusic wrote that "The Evil One shows just how strong a rocker could be -- and how good a band he could put together. Great stuff, and certainly the best representation of Roky's "latter-day punk" period." Rolling Stone writer Hank Shteamer called the album "soulful and assured," noting that Erickson seemed fully at home even on the darkest material.

Influence

The song "Two Headed Dog " inspired the name of 1980s Los Angeles psychedelic/post-punk band Red Temple Spirits.
"If you have Ghosts" was covered by Ghost in 2013.

Track listing